Health study of Toronto homeless demands action, says group

A new study on health-care access for the homeless in Toronto says little has changed in the past 15 years:those on the streetstill suffer from lack of affordable housing, poor medical care and higher levels of violence.

The Street Health Report 2007 released Wednesday, prepared by the community-based organization, interviewed more than 360 people on the streets and in shelters last winter.

More than half of those surveyed said they use hospital emergency departments for medical care.

Dr. Stephen Hwang sees many homeless people where he works at St. Michael's Hospital. He said it is frustrating when there's no suitable place to send people who are discharged. "I'm an internal medicine physician, so I see a lot of people who have advanced HIV or advanced infections or liver disease that's gone untreated," he said.

The survey found one-third had been homeless for more than five years. The same number said they were on the streets because they couldn't find a place to live.

Little has changed in the 15 years since Street Health produced its first survey of life on the streets, said Erika Khandor, the research and evaluation co-ordinator at Street Health.

"In the long term we're not taking care of people because we are letting them remain homeless for very long amounts of time.And in the short term we're also not taking care of people adequately when you see 40 per cent of people couldn't get a bed at least once last winter, a shelter bed.And about 70 per cent said they were hungry at least once a week."

Also highlighted in the report is the level of violence on the streets. One in three reported being physically assaulted in the past year and one in five women had been sexually assaulted.

Jim Meeks, whohas been homeless in the past, helped to conduct interviews. He said people in poverty have very little to give them hope and many are turning to crack cocaine.

"Around here people buy [a] $2 hit so that they can just get a brief instance of not being where they are and not being who they are," he said.

In the past year, more than half of those interviewed reported serious depression.

"For the majority of people this is not a short-term crisis. This is not something people can get out of easily," said Khandor.

The report calls on governments to improve access to health care for the homeless and provide housing people can afford.